


Mend What's Been Broken

by houdini74



Series: Clint and Marcy [10]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Boys In Love, Established Relationship, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22210669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: What do you do when your son's fiance invites his ex-fiancee over for tea?
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: Clint and Marcy [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1377373
Comments: 71
Kudos: 383





	Mend What's Been Broken

**Author's Note:**

> I think I said I was going to stop writing Clint and Marcy stories three stories ago, but apparently I can't stop.

Marcy puts the tub of sour cream in her shopping cart and marks it off on her shopping app. Across the aisle, Patrick laughs as he holds a wheel of brie just out of David’s reach. “We literally brought my parents an entire basket of cheese from the store, we don’t need any brie, David.”

David grabs for the cheese with the arm that isn’t wrapped around Patrick’s shoulders. “It’s from a different dairy. It’s for market research.” David is taller than her son, but Patrick has David trapped against the edge of the cooler and David can’t lean over far enough to snatch the cheese from his fiancé’s fingers.

Laughing and shaking her head, she checks her list again. Butter, and then eggs. She pushes her cart forward, jumping a little at the soft voice that interrupts her thoughts. “Hi Marcy.” The red-haired woman stands in front of her, an apologetic look on her face. Neither of them have anything to be sorry about; at the same time, Marcy understands the sentiment. 

“Rachel, um, hi.” She’s run into Rachel several times over the past few years, but this feels weightier, more awkward. For so many years, she and Rachel had baked cookies and gossiped about their favorite TV shows and planned holidays together. She loves David with her whole heart but at the same time, she misses her friendship with Rachel. A stab of guilt follows the thought. She glances over at her son. The laughter drains out of his face and he sets the brie down into the cooler without looking. David’s fingers are rubbing soft circles into his shoulder. 

“Hi Patrick.” Rachel’s voice is cautious and uncertain. If Patrick has spoken to his former fiancée after Rachel had surprised him in Schitt’s Creek, Marcy doesn’t know about it. Of course, the things she doesn’t know about her son could fill a book. Still, the looks on both their faces make her think that this is the first time they’ve seen each other since that day. She gives David a quick glance, worried how he might take this unexpected encounter. David’s face is relaxed, the only signs of anxiety are the fingers massaging Patrick’s shoulder.

“Rach. Good to see you.” Patrick strings the syllables together into a single word, his voice is high and pitchy. 

Beside him, David gives a little wave with the hand that’s not attached to his fiance’s shoulders. “Hi, we’ve never properly met. I’m David.” The gold-ringed fingers that are attached to Patrick are still stroking comforting circles. Patrick looks like he might fly away without them.

“Yeah, I kind of pieced that together.” Rachel’s voice is dry and David grins at her, bright and sure. She smiles back. They could have been friends, Marcy thinks. In another time and place, her son’s fiance and his ex-fiance could have been the type of friends who had drinks after work and made plans on the weekends. Instead, the silence descends, heavy and uncomfortable. 

“Well, uh, it was good to see you. Marcy. Patrick. And nice to meet you, David.” Rachel gives them a quick smile before she turns away.

David gives Patrick a soft nudge with his shoulder and the two of them exchange a look, the sort of non-verbal communication that couples develop between themselves. When Patrick speaks, his voice is back to normal. “Wait. Rach. Maybe you could come for tea sometime.” David nudges him again. “This afternoon. Maybe you could come for tea this afternoon.” Patrick’s eyes meet hers. “Mom? Is that okay?”

“Of course, honey.” She’s not sure what conversations David and Patrick have had about Rachel, but she’s happy to follow Patrick’s lead. “Rachel, you’re welcome any time.” Patrick needs this. He and Rachel were friends first; when he’d left two years ago their friendship had been one of the sacrifices he’d made.

Rachel regards Patrick carefully, but her eyes linger on David. He gives a quick short nod and she nods back at him. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

***

When Rachel arrives, they work their way through the usual chatter about the weather and inquiries about Rachel’s parents. The silence from the grocery store returns as soon as Rachel sinks into the living room sofa. She should leave them alone, Marcy thinks. There are things that need to be said without her in the room. “I’ll go make some tea.”

Before she can stop him, David bounces to his feet. “I’ll help.” He follows her out of the room, practically on her heels the entire way to the kitchen. 

In the kitchen, she fills the kettle while David paces back and forth. She sets the kettle on the stove and deliberately steps into his path, bringing him to a stop. “It’s going to be fine. Patrick loves you, you have nothing to worry about.” Maybe this has been a mistake. David is the best thing that’s ever happened to Patrick. She doesn’t want him to feel insecure about having Rachel over for tea. 

David shakes out his hands. “I’m not worried about that. I know he loves me.” A twisted, bashful smile creeps over David’s face. “I think I’m just picking up his anxiety, you know? As if I didn’t have enough anxieties of my own, I get to share his as well.” David fidgets with his rings, but his voice is light as though he revels in being able to share everything with Patrick, even stressful moments like this one.

“Okay.” She pats his shoulder. “Can you get those teacups down for me?” She gestures to her grandmother’s cups on the top shelf. Even a small task should help to ratchet down his nervous energy.

“I’ve been telling him that he needs to talk to her? But you know how he is.” David hands the first cup and saucer down to her. 

“He puts things off.” She puts the cups on a tray along with milk and sugar. They had taught him that. She and Clint had taught him to box things up and put them off. She had never meant to, but somewhere along the line it was a lesson that Patrick had learned entirely too well. She suspects that David doesn’t let him get away with it the way that Rachel had. 

“Yeah.” David rolls his eyes. Not for the first time, she’s struck by the contrast. David is an open book where Patrick has always been inscrutable, hiding behind a smile and a joke. David hands her a second cup. “I know he misses their friendship, but…” A third cup joins the others.

“...but he’s scared of hurting you.” It was David who had eventually told her the story of how Rachel’s unexpected visit had nearly derailed their relationship. She still feels a twinge of guilt when she remembers that she was the one who had told Rachel that Patrick had moved to Schitt’s Creek. But, it’s water under the bridge now and everything has turned out for the best.

“Mmm hmm. And of getting hurt, I think.” David passes the last cup and saucer to her just as the kettle boils. She pours the water into the teapot. A burst of laughter from the living room startles them both. 

She and David exchange a smile and she gestures to the tray. “Can you bring that?”

David follows her into the living room. As they get closer, she can hear Rachel’s voice. “Don’t be an idiot.” Her tone is teasing and Patrick laughs in response. From the doorway, she can see Patrick hugging Rachel. His eyes skip past her to where David is standing behind her, a wide, soft smile spreads over her son’s face. He lets Rachel go as David sets the tray onto the coffee table. Patrick holds out his hand and David takes it and settles in beside him. Patrick’s shoulders relax a tiny amount as soon as David is beside him. He presses a quick kiss to David’s cheek, making David’s mouth twist in pretend annoyance at the public display.

“So David, tell me.” Rachel leans forward, a glint in her eye. Marcy thinks Patrick sees it as well, his hand tightens in David’s. “Does Patrick still get into a snit when his plans don’t work out the way he thinks they should?” 

Marcy stifles her laugh, hiding her smile behind her cup of tea. Patrick has always been a planner, even as a little boy he’d get out of sorts at any change of schedule. Maybe they should have pushed him to be less precise, to embrace spontaneity. Still, the times when Patrick has been impetuous, he’s gone all in, moving to Schitt’s Creek, investing in David’s business and, well...she smiles at her son’s fiance, but his eyes are glued to Patrick.

“I don’t get into a snit…” Patrick starts to speak before David interrupts.

“Yes! He sulked for days when the bathroom renovation at the store was delayed.” David’s free hand waves wildly. “He was very pouty about the whole thing.” 

“I was not…” Patrick looks like he wants to sink into the couch. “Ronnie should have said what she was doing.” There’s a beat of silence as they all stare at him and even Patrick has to laugh at the petulant tone in his own voice. Given that he had teased David for fifteen minutes that morning when David couldn’t decide between waffles or pancakes, Marcy thinks that Patrick deserves whatever the other two can dish out.

“And I bet he still gets all competitive about pretty much everything?” Rachel grins as she leans back in the armchair. There’s no malice in her voice, just the same gentle teasing that she’s always used when it came to Patrick.

“You have no idea.” David rolls his eyes. Marcy tries not to laugh at the look of discomfort on Patrick’s face. “The hockey is just on TV, why does it matter which team wins?” 

“I don’t know, David, why does it matter who wins The Great Canadian Baking Show? Patrick arches an eyebrow at his fiance, but David waves him away.

That’s not the same thing. That’s important. And Megan was robbed.” David’s level of outrage about the outcome of the TV baking competition is the same as his annoyance over his sister’s suggestion that he have lilies at the wedding or the fact that the grocery store was out of chocolate ice cream. 

“Do you remember when you were both on the mathletics team and he was so mad when you got the higher score?” The words are out of her mouth before she can take them back. Rachel laughs at the memory, but she’s not the one Marcy is worried about. She glances at David, his face is twisted and her stomach drops.

“Oh my god, of course you were on something called the mathletics team.” She tries not to sigh with relief at David’s reaction to Patrick and Rachel’s shared past. 

“You know you can get him to do things just by telling him you don’t think he can do it?” Marcy grins at Rachel’s question, her eyes slipping to her son. 

“Oh, I know.” David gives Patrick a sly glance.

“Wait. When have you done that?” Patrick is trying for outraged, but he mostly sounds bemused. David leans over to whisper in Patrick’s ear and he turns beet red. She and Rachel try to hide their giggles. 

“This is very unfair, the two of you ganging up on me. Mom, do you want to help me, here?” Patrick sends his puppy dog eyes in her direction, as if she hadn’t become immune to that by the time he was four.

“Oh honey, you lived here for 18 years, and I could never get you to put your socks in the hamper. I know whose side I’m on.”

“Besides, you and Stevie gang up on me all the time.” David smooths his hand down Patrick’s leg, soothing both of them.

“Who’s Stevie?” She can feel Rachel’s curiosity about David, about Patrick’s life. Marcy shares the same desire to know about her son’s new life even as she’s come to accept that there are gaps that she will never be able to fill.

“Stevie is my best friend.” David says the words as though best friends are unique gifts that are only bestowed on a few lucky people. Which, she supposes, to David they might be. 

“And…” Patrick prompts him, a slight smile on his lips.

“And she’s my ex. But that doesn’t matter, not really.” David shrugs his past relationship with Stevie away, their friendship of primary importance. 

“I see.” Rachel’s eyes meet Patrick’s and he smiles at her. If David, who wears his insecurities out loud for everyone to see, can claim his ex-girlfriend as his best friend, perhaps there’s room for Patrick and Rachel to do the same.

The conversation shifts to a discussion of Patrick and Rachel’s high school friends, who’s married and divorced, who has kids, who moved to Toronto. Rachel finishes telling Patrick about their friend Tim, who works for a government minister. There’s a moment of silence. Rachel glances at the clock on the mantel. “I should go.”

“Rach.” Patrick’s voice is soft. The fingers of his right hand are playing with David’s rings. “Give me a call some time.” 

“I will.” With a light laugh and a torrent of goodbyes, she’s gone. Marcy gathers up the tea cups and saucers and carries the tray back to the kitchen. This time it’s Patrick who follows her back to the kitchen. He sets the teapot on the counter as she loads the cups into the dishwasher. 

“You miss her.” It’s not a question. Patrick holds out the stack of saucers. 

“Patrick…” She doesn’t want to open this box. She doesn’t want Patrick to ever doubt how much she cares about David, how happy she is that the two of them have found each other. 

“It’s okay.” He slides the empty tray into its spot on top of the fridge. “I miss her too, sometimes. So if you want to call her, have tea or whatever, it’s okay.” He turns back as he’s leaving the kitchen. “And it’s okay with David, too.” He gives her a bright smile, the one that she’d forgotten about for so many years, the one that takes her breath away. 

Distantly, from the living room, she can hear the rise and fall of Patrick and David’s voices. She leans against the counter, content to let them have some moments alone together. Maybe she will give Rachel a call, she thinks. The outdoor market that they used to go to is coming up in a couple of weeks. David has done this, she realizes. He’ll never admit it, but he’s given her an opportunity for a new start with both Patrick and Rachel. With a small smile, she heads back towards the living room, to her son and the man who has changed all of their lives.


End file.
